PREMIUM BRANDS HOLDINGS CORPORATION ANNOUNCES RECORD SECOND QUARTER SALES AND EARNINGS AND DECLARES THIRD QUARTER DIVIDEND VANCOUVER, B.C., August 13,. Premium Brands Holdings Corporation (TSX: PBH), a leading producer, marketer and distributor of branded specialty food products, announced today its results for the second quarter of. HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE QUARTER Record revenue of $761.5 million representing a 31.9 or $184.1 million increase as compared to the second quarter of. The Company s organic volume growth rate for the quarter was 6.6. Record adjusted EBITDA of $74.2 million representing a 34.9 or $19.2 million increase as compared to the second quarter of. Record adjusted earnings of $1.10 per share representing a 17.0 or $0.16 per share increase as compared to the second quarter of. The Company increased its sales and adjusted EBITDA guidance for. Subsequent to the quarter the Company acquired a 62.6 interest in Ontario based chicken processor Yorkshire Valley Farms and the sandwich business of Minnesota based Select Food Products for a total combined purchase price of approximately $46.2 million. Also subsequent to the quarter the Company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.475 per share. SUMMARY FINANCIAL INFORMATION (In millions of dollars except per share amounts and ratios) Revenue 761.5 577.4 1,346.4 1,055.6 Adjusted EBITDA 74.2 55.0 117.3 93.4 Earnings 30.6 26.7 43.8 42.0 EPS 0.96 0.90 1.40 1.41 Adjusted earnings 35.0 27.9 50.5 43.5 Adjusted EPS 1.10 0.94 1.61 1.46 Trailing Four Quarters Ended Dec 30, Free cash flow 135.2 131.3 Declared dividends 56.1 50.6 Declared dividends per share 1.79 1.68 Payout ratio 41.5 38.5 We continue to make solid progress in building our business platforms into industry leaders by providing our talented management teams with the resources they need to grow and diversify their businesses, both through organic initiatives and acquisitions. In turn this is resulting in continued record top and bottom line growth for Premium Brands as shown by our most recent quarterly results, said Mr. George Paleologou, President and CEO. In particular, we are very pleased with how the talented management teams of our most recently acquired businesses are already leveraging their new relationships with us and our other partners to generate significant synergies and new growth opportunities. These
entrepreneurs are not only opening up new product segments for us, but are further advancing our lead in many exciting categories such as meat snacks, sandwiches, dry cured meats, cooked protein and seafood. We are as excited about the future and about our ability to create long-term sustainable value for our shareholders as we have ever been. Inevitably there will be bumps in the road, but we have no doubts about the path we are on. A great example of how far we have come is that we now visualize many of our platforms becoming billion dollar businesses versus not that long ago when this was our goal for Premium Brands as a whole. Our Sandwich Platform is almost there and we expect several of our other platforms to reach the billion-dollar target within the next five years. Our strategy of empowering successful food entrepreneurs to build their businesses into world class entities, without compromising their values and passion for producing great tasting products, is simple but it is at the heart of what is driving our success. has been a very busy year for us in terms of acquisitions. So far we have invested over $541 million in new businesses and we expect the back half of the year to continue to be busy as our pipeline of opportunities remains very robust. As the partner of choice for a growing number of successful food entrepreneurs across North America, the length of our runway is expanding, not contracting, said Mr. Paleologou. I am very much looking forward to welcoming more great companies to our unique ecosystem, added Mr. Paleologou. THIRD QUARTER DIVIDEND The Company s Board of Directors approved a cash dividend of $0.475 per share for the third quarter of, which will be payable on October 15, to shareholders of record at the close of business on September 28,. Unless indicated otherwise in writing at or before the time the dividend is paid, each dividend paid by the Company in or a subsequent year is an eligible dividend for the purposes of the Enhanced Dividend Tax Credit System. ABOUT PREMIUM BRANDS Premium Brands owns a broad range of leading specialty food manufacturing and differentiated food distribution businesses with operations across Canada and the United States. For further information, please contact George Paleologou, President and CEO or Will Kalutycz, CFO at (604) 656-3100. www.premiumbrandsholdings.com
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS Revenue (in millions of dollars except percentages) Revenue by segment: Specialty Foods 522.0 68.5 347.7 60.2 900.0 66.8 632.2 59.9 Premium Food Distribution 239.5 31.5 229.7 39.8 446.4 33.2 423.4 40.1 Consolidated 761.5 100.0 577.4 100.0 1,346.4 100.0 1,055.6 100.0 Expressed as a percentage of consolidated revenue Specialty Foods (SF) revenue for the second quarter of as compared to the second quarter of increased by $174.3 million or 50.1 primarily due to: (i) business acquisitions, which accounted for $136.5 million of the increase; (ii) organic volume growth of $38.0 million, representing a growth rate of 10.9, which was driven primarily by sandwiches, meat snacks and cooked protein products; and (iii) selling price inflation of $4.7 million. These increases were partially offset by a $4.9 million decrease in the translated value of its U.S. based businesses sales resulting from a stronger Canadian dollar. For the first two quarters of as compared to the first two quarters of, SF s revenue increased by $267.8 million or 42.4 primarily due to the same factors outlined above with business acquisitions accounting for $196.4 million of the increase and the organic volume growth rate being 11.9. Premium Food Distribution s (PFD) revenue for the second quarter of as compared to the second quarter of increased by $9.8 million or 4.3 primarily due to business acquisitions, which generated $10.6 million in growth. PFD s legacy business sales volumes were relatively flat with selling price deflation resulting in their overall $0.8 million sales decrease. PFD s legacy businesses nominal sales growth was primarily due to: (i) disruptions in the supply of various species of fresh fish from the U.S. south coast as a result of poor weather conditions that hampered fishing activities; (ii) weaker than expected sockeye and tuna fisheries on the west coast of North America; and (iii) a general slowdown in foodservice sales in western Canada that impacted a large number of restaurants serviced by PFD s Centennial Foodservice business. These factors were partially offset by solid growth from PFD s retail distribution initiatives in western Canada and Quebec. For the first two quarters of as compared to the first two quarters of, PFD s revenue increased by $23.0 million or 5.4 primarily due to: (i) business acquisitions, which accounted for $13.4 million of the growth; (ii) organic volume growth of $7.8 million representing a growth rate of 1.8; and (iii) selling price inflation of $1.8 million. In addition to the challenges that impacted PFD s growth in the second quarter of, its growth was also impacted in the first quarter by a $2.9 million decrease in PFD s trading business sales, which, in part, are opportunistic in nature and correspondingly can be somewhat volatile.
Gross Profit (in millions of dollars except percentages) Gross profit by segment: Specialty Foods 121.4 23.3 78.2 22.5 198.1 22.0 139.9 22.1 Premium Food Distribution 38.0 15.9 37.2 16.2 71.5 16.0 68.1 16.1 Consolidated 159.4 20.9 115.4 20.0 269.6 20.0 208.0 19.7 Expressed as a percentage of the corresponding segment s revenue SF s gross profit as a percentage of its revenue (gross margin) for the second quarter of as compared to the second quarter of increased by 80 basis points primarily due to: (i) business acquisitions; and (ii) the reclassification of approximately $1.5 million of freight costs to selling, general and administrative expense. Excluding these factors, SF s gross margin decreased to 21.3 or by 120 basis points due to a variety of factors including: (i) changes in its sales mix as a major portion of its growth was driven by products that have lower gross margins relative to its average gross margins correspondingly these products have lower SG&A ratios relative to SF s average SG&A ratios (see Results of Operations Selling, General and Administrative Expenses); (ii) investment in additional plant overhead to help support SF s continued growth; and (iii) albeit to a much lesser extent, rising labor costs in most markets across Canada and the U.S. SF s gross margin for the first two quarters of was relatively stable as compared to the first two quarters of as the factors impacting SF s second quarter results mostly offset one another on a year-to-date basis. PFD s gross margins for the second quarter of as compared to the second quarter of and for the first two quarters of as compared to the first two quarters of were relatively stable as margin expansion opportunities resulting from a slightly deflationary environment for certain beef and pork raw material commodities were mostly offset by: (i) short term margin challenges resulting from a run up in the cost of certain species of fresh fish that were in short supply (see Results of Operations Revenue); and (ii) temporarily lower than normal margins on a new line of premium beef products being distributed in the Quebec market. Selling, General and Administrative Expenses (SG&A) (in millions of dollars except percentages) SG&A by segment: Specialty Foods 58.3 11.2 35.3 10.2 99.5 11.1 65.9 10.4 Premium Food Distribution 23.5 9.8 21.5 9.4 45.5 10.2 41.5 9.8 Corporate 3.4 3.6 7.3 7.2 Consolidated 85.2 11.2 60.4 10.5 152.3 11.3 114.6 10.9 Expressed as a percentage of the corresponding segment s revenue SF s SG&A for the second quarter of as compared to the second quarter of and for the first two quarters of as compared to the first two quarters of increased by $23.0 million and $33.6 million, respectively primarily due to: (i) business acquisitions; (ii) the reclassification of certain freight expenses from cost of sales; (iii) incremental freight costs resulting from a combination of increased freight rates and higher sales volumes; and (iv) investments in additional selling and administration
infrastructure needed to support SF s continued growth. These increases were partially offset by the timing of certain discretionary promotions. SF s SG&A as a percentage of sales (SG&A ratio) for the second quarter of as compared to the second quarter of and for the first two quarters of as compared to the first two quarters of increased by 100 basis points and 70 basis points, respectively primarily due to the factors outlined above. These were partially offset by: (i) changes in SF s sales mix as a major portion of its growth was driven by products with lower variable SG&A costs; and (ii) its organic revenue growth in relation to the relatively fixed nature of a variety of its SG&A costs. PFD s SG&A for the second quarter of as compared to the second quarter of and for the first two quarters of as compared to the first two quarters of increased by $2.0 million and $4.0 million, respectively primarily due to: (i) business acquisitions; (ii) investments in additional fleet and sales infrastructure needed to support future growth; (iii) foreign exchange losses relating to the translation of quarter end liabilities; and (iv) higher freight costs. PFD s SG&A ratio for the second quarter of as compared to the second quarter of and for the first two quarters of as compared to the first two quarters of increased by 40 basis points primarily due to the factors outlined above other than business acquisitions which had a minor positive impact on PFD s SG&A ratio. Adjusted EBITDA (in millions of dollars except percentages) Adjusted EBITDA by segment: Specialty Foods 63.1 12.1 42.9 12.3 98.6 11.0 74.0 11.7 Premium Food Distribution 14.5 6.1 15.7 6.8 26.0 5.8 26.6 6.3 Corporate (3.4) (3.6) (7.3) (7.2) Consolidated 74.2 9.7 55.0 9.5 117.3 8.7 93.4 8.8 Expressed as a percentage of the corresponding segment s revenue Adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter of as compared to the second quarter of increased by $19.2 million or 34.9 to $74.2 million. This result was within the Company s expectations for the quarter, but at the lower end of its targeted range primarily due to the revenue challenges experienced by its PFD segment businesses (see Results of Operations Revenue) and, to a much lesser extent, various inflationary cost pressures across a number of its businesses. Plant Start-up and Restructuring Costs Plant start-up and restructuring costs consist of expenses associated with the start-up of new production capacity or the reconfiguration of existing capacity to gain efficiencies and/or additional capacity. The Company expects (see Forward Looking Statements) these projects to result in significant improvements in its future earnings and cash flows.
During the first two quarters of, the Company incurred $1.1 million in plant start-up costs for the following projects: Bakery Reconfiguration Project The Company incurred $0.5 million in plant start-up costs associated with the reconfiguration of production between its two legacy artisan bakeries (one in Langley, BC and the other in Delta, BC) and its newest artisan bakery (in Richmond, BC), which it acquired at the end of 2016 as part of the purchase of Island City Baking. Looking forward (see Forward Looking Statements), the Company expects to complete the Bakery Reconfiguration Project in the third quarter of and is projecting total plant start-up costs for this initiative of approximately $1.0 million. GTA Facility Project The Company incurred $0.6 million in plant-start-up costs associated with the construction of a state-of-the-art distribution and custom cutting facility in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Looking forward (see Forward Looking Statements), the Company expects to complete construction of the GTA Facility in the fourth quarter of and to have the facility operating at normal production efficiencies in early 2019. The projected total plant start-up costs for this initiative is $2.5 million. Interest and Other Financing Costs The Company s interest and other financing costs for the second quarter of as compared to the second quarter of and for the first two quarters of as compared to the first two quarters of increased by $6.3 million and $10.0 million, respectively primarily due to: (i) increases in its net funded debt; and (ii) a higher weighted average interest rate resulting from a combination of rising short term interest rates and increased interest rate premiums associated with the Company s higher senior debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio. Income Taxes The Company s expected range (see Forward Looking Statements) for its provision for income taxes as a percentage of earnings before income taxes (income tax rate) for is 25 to 27. This is based on: (i) an effective income tax rate range within the main tax jurisdictions that it operates in (the Tax Jurisdictions) of 21 to 28; (ii) the expected allocation of its taxable income among the Tax Jurisdictions; and (iii) the deductibility of certain costs for income tax purposes. For the first two quarters of, the Company s income tax rate was 26.6, which is within its expected range but at the higher end primarily due to most of the acquisition costs expensed during the first two quarters of not being deductible from taxable earnings.
Sales and Adjusted EBITDA Outlook See Forward Looking Statements for a discussion of the risks and assumptions associated with forward looking statements. Except as noted below, the Company s outlook for its performance does not include any provisions for possible future acquisitions even though the Company continues to pursue a variety of opportunities and expects to complete several more transactions, in addition to those already announced, in. Outlook (in millions of dollars) Bottom of Range Top of Range Revenue: Prior guidance 2,980.0 3,060.0 Revised guidance 3,010.0 3,070.0 Adjusted EBITDA: Prior guidance 274.0 286.0 Revised guidance 278.0 287.0 The Company increased the targeted range for both its sales and adjusted EBITDA guidance based on the recent acquisitions of Yorkshire Valley Farms and Select Foods. Both businesses are expected to have an immediate positive impact on the Company s sales but only Yorkshire Valley Farms is expected to have a positive impact on its adjusted EBITDA since the costs associated with transitioning Select Foods production to one of the Company s sandwich plants in Minneapolis are expected to largely offset its incremental adjusted EBITDA in. The Company is maintaining the bottom end of its prior guidance for its remaining businesses, however, it is reducing the top end of the range to reflect the challenges facing its seafood business group and its foodservice business in western Canada (see Results of Operations Revenue). While the impact of these challenges is expected to be temporary, it is unclear as to how long they will continue.
Premium Brands Holdings Corporation Consolidated Balance Sheets (in millions of Canadian dollars) Dec 30, Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents 15.7 15.1 30.1 Accounts receivable 320.8 220.6 201.5 Inventories 329.6 218.1 194.9 Prepaid expenses and other assets 13.3 10.3 9.2 679.4 464.1 435.7 Capital assets 430.9 319.0 276.5 Intangible assets 349.5 201.2 147.8 Goodwill 611.1 439.1 321.4 Investment in associates 27.9 25.5 9.1 Other assets 20.5 10.6 10.9 2,119.3 1,459.5 1,201.4 Current liabilities: Cheques outstanding 11.1 13.9 10.7 Bank indebtedness 3.4 6.2 3.0 Dividends payable 15.8 13.0 12.6 Accounts payable and accrued liabilities 259.0 179.1 178.8 Current portion of long-term debt 7.9 1.8 2.0 Current portion of provisions 21.6 20.7 20.2 Current portion of puttable interest in subsidiaries 35.2 32.1 6.0 Other current liabilities 0.2 - - 354.2 266.8 233.3 Long-term debt 573.6 417.9 195.9 Puttable interest in subsidiaries 4.6 4.6 29.2 Deferred revenue 6.6 6.5 6.7 Provisions 2.0 1.8 1.8 Pension obligation 1.7 2.1 1.5 Deferred income taxes 70.9 47.8 49.4 1,013.6 747.5 517.8 Convertible unsecured subordinated debentures 358.3 214.3 256.0 Equity attributable to shareholders: Retained earnings (deficit) 9.5 (3.7) (16.4) Share capital 714.9 482.2 426.4 Reserves 23.0 19.2 17.6 747.4 497.7 427.6 2,119.3 1,459.5 1,201.4
Premium Brands Holdings Corporation Consolidated Statements of Operations (in millions of Canadian dollars except per share amounts) Revenue 761.5 577.4 1,346.4 1,055.6 Cost of goods sold 602.1 462.0 1,076.8 847.6 Gross profit before depreciation and amortization 159.4 115.4 269.6 208.0 Selling, general and administrative expenses before depreciation and amortization 85.2 60.4 152.3 114.6 74.2 55.0 117.3 93.4 Plant start-up costs 0.5 1.3 1.1 1.3 73.7 53.7 116.2 92.1 Depreciation of capital assets 10.8 7.1 19.6 14.3 Amortization of intangible assets 3.6 2.5 6.8 4.9 Interest and other financing costs 11.7 5.4 20.5 10.5 Acquisition transaction costs 3.6 0.2 5.0 0.4 Change in value of puttable interest in subsidiaries 1.7 1.7 3.3 3.2 Accretion of provisions - 0.2 0.3 0.5 Unrealized loss on foreign currency contracts 0.1 - - - Equity loss in associates 0.4 0.2 1.1 0.3 Other (0.1) - - - Earnings before income taxes 41.9 36.4 59.6 58.0 Provision (recovery) for income taxes Current 12.6 8.2 17.7 11.7 Deferred (1.3) 1.5 (1.9) 4.3 11.3 9.7 15.8 16.0 Earnings 30.6 26.7 43.8 42.0 Earnings per share: Basic 0.96 0.90 1.40 1.41 Diluted 0.96 0.89 1.39 1.40 Weighted average shares outstanding (in millions): Basic 31.8 29.7 31.3 29.7 Diluted 31.9 29.9 31.4 29.9
Premium Brands Holdings Corporation Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (in millions of Canadian dollars) Cash flows from (used in) operating activities: Earnings 30.6 26.7 43.8 42.0 Items not involving cash: Depreciation of capital assets 10.8 7.1 19.6 14.3 Amortization of intangible assets 3.6 2.5 6.8 4.9 Change in value of puttable interest in subsidiaries 1.7 1.7 3.3 3.2 Equity loss in associates 0.4 0.2 1.1 0.3 Deferred revenue - 2.0 0.1 1.9 Non-cash financing costs 2.3 0.7 3.0 1.4 Deferred income taxes (recovery) (1.3) 1.5 (1.9) 4.3 Other - 0.1 0.3 0.4 48.1 42.5 76.1 72.7 Change in non-cash working capital 7.5 (29.6) (31.4) (27.8) 55.6 12.9 44.7 44.9 Cash flows from (used in) financing activities: Long-term debt net 72.7 42.2 124.8 43.6 Bank indebtedness and cheques outstanding (31.7) (6.1) (6.2) (2.0) Convertible debentures net of issuance costs 164.7-164.7 - Share issuance net of issuance costs 164.9-164.9 - Dividends paid to shareholders (14.8) (12.5) (27.8) (23.9) Other (1.8) - (1.8) - 354.0 23.6 418.6 17.7 Cash flows from (used in) investing activities: Capital asset additions (15.8) (23.0) (28.2) (37.1) Business acquisitions (384.5) - (418.0) (11.8) Payments to shareholders of non-wholly owned subsidiaries (1.4) (1.2) (1.8) (1.8) Payment of provisions (0.5) (1.7) (0.5) (1.7) Purchase of shares for employee share loans (10.0) - (10.0) - Investment in associates (1.0) - (5.3) - Other 0.8 0.2 1.1 0.5 (412.4) (25.7) (462.7) (51.9) Change in cash and cash equivalents (2.8) 10.8 0.6 10.7 Cash and cash equivalents beginning of period 18.5 19.3 15.1 19.4 Cash and cash equivalents end of period 15.7 30.1 15.7 30.1 Interest and other financing costs paid 12.0 8.1 17.2 9.3 Income taxes paid 9.0 13.3 17.9 15.9
NON-IFRS FINANCIAL MEASURES The Company uses certain non-ifrs financial measures including adjusted EBITDA, free cash flow, adjusted earnings and adjusted earnings per share, which are not defined under IFRS and, as a result, may not be comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other publicly traded entities, nor should they be construed as an alternative to other earnings measures determined in accordance with IFRS. These non-ifrs measures are calculated as follows: Adjusted EBITDA (in millions of dollars) Earnings before income taxes 41.9 36.4 59.6 58.0 Plant start-up costs 0.5 1.3 1.1 1.3 Depreciation of capital assets 10.8 7.1 19.6 14.3 Amortization of intangible assets 3.6 2.5 6.8 4.9 Interest and other financing costs 11.7 5.4 20.5 10.5 Acquisition transaction costs 3.6 0.2 5.0 0.4 Change in value of puttable interest in subsidiaries 1.7 1.7 3.3 3.2 Accretion of provisions - 0.2 0.3 0.5 Unrealized loss on foreign currency contracts 0.1 - - - Equity loss in associates 0.4 0.2 1.1 0.3 Other (0.1) - - - Consolidated adjusted EBITDA 74.2 55.0 117.3 93.4 Free Cash Flow (in millions of dollars) 52 weeks Dec 30, Rolling Four Quarters Cash flow from operating activities 85.9 44.7 44.9 85.7 Changes in non-cash working capital 45.9 31.4 27.8 49.5 Acquisition transaction costs 4.2 5.0 0.4 8.8 Plant start-up costs 7.3 1.1 1.3 7.1 Maintenance capital expenditures (12.0) (8.1) (4.2) (15.9) Free cash flow 131.3 74.1 70.2 135.2
Adjusted Earnings and Adjusted Earnings per Share (in millions of dollars except per share amounts) Jul 30, Earnings 30.6 26.7 43.8 42.0 Plant start-up costs 0.5 1.3 1.1 1.3 Acquisition transaction costs 3.6 0.2 5.0 0.4 Accretion of provisions - 0.2 0.3 0.5 Equity loss from associates in start-up 0.4-1.0 - Unrealized loss on foreign currency contracts 0.1-0.1-35.2 28.4 51.3 44.2 Current and deferred income tax effect of above items (0.2) (0.5) (0.8) (0.7) Adjusted earnings 35.0 27.9 50.5 43.5 Weighted average shares outstanding 31.8 29.7 31.3 29.7 Adjusted earnings per share 1.10 0.94 1.61 1.46 FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS This press release contains forward looking statements with respect to the Company, including, without limitation, statements regarding its business operations, strategy and financial performance and condition, cash distributions, proposed acquisitions, budgets, projected costs and plans and objectives of or involving the Company. While management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward looking statements are reasonable and represent the Company s internal expectations and belief as of August 10,, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct as such forward looking statements involve unknown risks and uncertainties beyond the Company s control which may cause its actual performance and results in future periods to differ materially from any estimates or projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Assumptions used by the Company to develop forward looking information contained or incorporated by reference in this press release are based on information currently available to it and include those outlined below. Readers are cautioned that this list is not exhaustive. The overall economic conditions in Canada and the United States will be relatively stable with modest improvement in the near to medium term. The average cost of the basket of food commodities purchased by the Company will be relatively stable with some modest deflationary pressures in the short term. The Company s major capital projects, plant start-up and business acquisition initiatives will progress in line with its expectations. The Company will be able to continue to access sufficient skilled and unskilled labor at reasonable wage levels. The Company will be able to continue to access sufficient goods and services for its manufacturing and distribution operations and, in particular, there will be fewer disruptions in its fresh seafood supply chains. The value of the Canadian dollar relative to the U.S. dollar will continue to fluctuate in line with recent levels. The Company will be able to achieve continued operating efficiency improvements. There will not be any material changes in the competitive environment of the markets in which the Company s various businesses compete.
There will not be any material changes in the key food trends that are driving growth in many of the Company s businesses. These trends include: (i) growing demand for higher quality foods made with simpler more wholesome ingredients and/or with differentiating attributes such as antibiotic free, no added hormones or use of organic ingredients; (ii) increased reliance on convenience oriented foods both for on-the-go snacking as well as easy home meal preparation; (iii) healthier eating including reduced sugar consumption and increased emphasis on protein; (iv) increased snacking in between and in place of meals; (v) increased interest in understanding the background and stories behind food products being consumed; and (vi) increased social awareness on issues such as sustainability, sourcing products locally, animal welfare and food waste. Overall North American weather patterns will be in line with historic patterns. To the extent that unusual and/or extreme weather occurs this can impact the Company in a variety of ways including: (i) changes in consumer demand patterns; (ii) changes in raw material costs; and (iii) raw material shortages. There will not be any material changes in the Company s relationships with its larger customers including the loss of a major product listing and/or being forced to give significant product pricing concessions. There will not be any material changes in the trade relationship between Canada and the U.S., particularly with respect to certain protein commodities such as beef and pork products. The Company will be able to negotiate new collective agreements with no labor disruptions. The Company will be able to continue to access reasonably priced debt and equity capital. The Company s average interest cost on floating rate debt will remain relatively stable in the near to medium future. Contractual counterparties will continue to fulfill their obligations to the Company. There will be no material changes to the tax and other regulatory requirements governing the Company. Unless otherwise indicated, the forward looking information in this document is made as of August 10, and, except as required by applicable law, will not be publicly updated or revised. This cautionary statement expressly qualifies the forward looking information in this document.